Thursday, October 28, 2010

Since my friend's baby was born back in the beginnings of September, I've been working hard drafting and redrafting a newborn pattern. Then, I gave it to two mom's with newborns to test, and I was able to even test it myself on my friend's baby when she was about 10 lbs. Now, I finally have something that I feel confident enough about to sell. So that is what I'm doing. Meet my first newborn diaper on Etsy! It is selling for $6.50 plus shipping (which is only as much as I actually pay to ship things)

If you have a baby on the way, this one might be for you! I used a luxuriously soft velour hoodie to make the inner layer which will be up against the baby's gentle skin. I'm quite proud of the final product!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Way back when I saw a tutorial on a sewing blog (I'm so sorry that I don't remember where) about how to make a dress for your baby girl using one of her Daddy's discarded dress shirts. Well, since I'm somewhat of a control freak and I like to do things my own way using my own patterns (mostly so I can sell them in the future should I choose to do so) I made up my own dress pattern sort of using a dress that Bunny already owns, and used one of her Daddy's old dress shirts to make this dress:

I'm sorry about the picture quality. It was taken on my iPhone. I had every intention of taking pictures of the dress with good lighting and my SLR camera so we went to the park with that intention. Guess who'd forgotten to charge her battery???? So, here are more pictures of the dress, also taken on my iPhone. They're not the best pictures ever, but you get the idea :-D

The thing I love best about this dress is that I kept the pockets and the snaps that were on the original dress shirt (that I didn't think to take a picture of before cutting it apart) so it took me less than an hour to make a dress with gorgeous pockets and high quality snaps!

Maybe if I ever have the time, someday, I'll post a tutorial of my own. Right now, my plate's so full that I barely have the time to blog regularly rather less post lengthy tutorials. Ha ha!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

I have two more small fitteds in my shop. Of course, my daughter got a version of each as well because I just can't help myself. There are two sides of every shirt and sometimes, if the shirt is large enough, I can use it as the outer for 3 or 4 diapers, so if it's super cute, my daughter gets a version of the diaper as well.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Poor poor Bunny got a terrible diaper rash. And it was our fault. See, Bunny absolutely hates to get her diaper changed so lately we've sort of put it off to avoid the inevitable baby-wrestle that will follow. And it was to her detriment because something in a poop last week must have given her an allergic reaction. In any case, the rash that followed was TERRIBLE! Normally, we put her in some wool over a prefold or a fitted and her rashes (which are few and far between) go away, but this one just wouldn't quit. So we went coverless. This means that every time she wet, we could tell right away, and every time she pooped, it was easier to smell because it wasn't behind a cover. I was seriously desperate when i first went coverless and I assumed that coverless would mean messes. But there weren't any! Yes, the diaper was wet to the touch on the outside when she peed, but just damp. It didn't even mess up my clothes when I carried her. I went from changing her diaper about 6 times a day to changing it 10-12 times. This means that my daughter's skin was very rarely in contact with wet fabric for more than a minute or two. We coupled this with a liner and some Desitin every once in awhile (I couldn't find my Butt Paste :-( ), and the rash scabbed up quickly. Now, I'm sort of hooked on fitted diapers with no covers! I thought I had a lot of fitted diapers, but found that I didn't nearly have enough once I tried to use them fulltime! So, of course, I rushed to make a bunch more. In addition to the 6 diapers I made for my shop, I made Bunny 5 or 6 diapers of her own (perfecting my size Small pattern in the meantime) and it's really nice to put her in the most adorable diaper and then get to see it because I don't have to cover it up! Well, her rash is clearing up nicely now and I seriously don't think I'll ever go back to waterproof diapers when I'm at home. Going coverless is just awesome!!!

Friday, October 22, 2010

Hey, guys!
Wonder where I've been? Well, I've been busy sewing more diapers (among lots of other things :-D) and now that I have a bunch sewn, they're listed in my shop! I only made 6 for the shop because I just love my diapers so much that I made a bunch for Bunny as well. I'll explain more about that in a subsequent post :-D

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Hey, guys! Amy over at The Cheap and Choosy is giving away one (or two) of my T shirt fitted diapers. You should go over and check it out. She is the first person I've given a diaper away to so that she could do a review/giveaway. I'm not too keen on doing lots of giveaways because I don't have much time to sew so I'd much rather just sew for the custom orders I get and my Etsy. But I really like Amy. She's great. So I decided to give it a try. Anyway, if you're interested in her opinion of my diapers, you can go see her thoughts at this link.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Here are the shorties that my woollie giveaway winner requested. I've now made two owl diapers--not of my own accord. I'll admit that owls are cute, but what's with the latest owl trend? Anyway, I did them and I'm pretty pleased with them. I had such a creative/motivational block when making these shorties. Mostly, because I was working hard at finishing birthday presents for my little Bunny and also because September was the first month back at school. In any case, a soaker that would have normally taken me a week to knit took me nearly a month and I was not pleased with myself. My winner was very gracious about the delay, though. I really hope that they are everything she wanted! I sent them out this Monday so they should have gotten to her by now :-D

Well anyway, here, for your viewing pleasure, is her pair of gender neutral, owl shorties:

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Okay, so Happy Heiny's snapping diapers don't come with hip snaps, so this title is misleading. But I think they should. I ended up with a few extra snaps from Happy Heinys due to a situation that I will mention in an upcoming review and since my daughter's snapping Happy Heinys sag dreadfully in the front panel, I added hip snaps to the tab closures and I have to say that I'm pretty happy now that I have a diaper that is once more usable.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Now you may know Saskia from Sugar Magnolia, who has been selling her amazing dolls and baby shoes in her shop for awhile now. But have you met Draven, her talented son who now makes amazing wooden puzzles that are also sold in her shop? Well, if you haven't, it's time you did! He's pretty much amazing! He recently got a scroll saw and has been making awesome wooden puzzles with it. These puzzles are dyed with water based paint and finished with beeswax and linseed oil so they are totally natural and completely safe for your little ones. He's still new at making puzzles, so he's working out the kinks, but I recently bought two of his creations, and man am I impressed! Bunny is too. She just loves playing with those puzzles! So, go on over to Sunflower Radiant Love and check out Draven's awesome puzzles. If only all adolescent boys were such hard workers!

Zulily.com

About Me

I'm an amateur seamstress, a pretty decent knitter, and also a cloth diapering, baby wearing, breastfeeding, and baby food making mom to a creative, loving, independent, potty-trained, "I'll do it myself" four year old girl and a happy, chunky, adorable new baby boy who is quickly stealing all of our hearts. In addition to being a part time stay-at-home-mom, I'm a part time Spanish teacher so sometimes I feel like a JILL of all trades :-D.

Some inspiration from Max Lucado

"You see, he didn't have to go. He had a choice. He could have stayed. He could have kept his mouth shut. He could have ignored the call or at least postponed it. And had he chosen to stay, who would've known? Who would have blamed him? "He could have come back as a man in another era when society wasn't so volatile, when religion wasn't so stale, when people would listen better. "He could have come back when crosses were out of style. "But his heart wouldn't let him. If there was hesitation on the part of his humanity, it was overcome by the compassion of his divinity. His divinity heard the voices. His divinity heard the hopeless cries of the poor, the bitter accusations of the abandoned, the dangling despair of those who are trying to save themselves. "And you can be sure of one thing. Among the voices that found their way into that carpentry shop in Nazareth was your voice. Your silent prayers uttered on tearstained pillows were heard before they were said. Your deepest questions about death and eternity were answered before they were asked. And your direst need, your need for a Savior, was met before you ever sinned. " -Max Lucado